We have been working with our friends at C-Motion (a world class gait analysis software company that has an office in Kingston) and a post-doctorate at Queen’s university on a gait re-training system.  Essentially it works by identifying an area of a client’s gait that is not ideal (such as excessive knee abduction angle) and then running on a treadmill several times while receiving visual feedback so that an abnormality or asymmetry can be modified.  After several sessions of running with the “corrected” gait, ideally motor program changes and the new gait is transferred permanently.  This is a fairly new area of research, and there is a small but fairly convincing body of publishable data from Irene Davis that is encouraging.

The folks at C-Motion have provided us with a working model that we are now testing in the clinic.  It’s amazing technology, giving real-time information to a runner about their alignment so they can make corrections to their gait.  Clients will come to the clinic approximately 8 times and run with their “corrected” gait in order to change their style permanently so they can overcome an injury.

Here is a sample of the feedback screen that you will see while running:

Screenshot from knee angle biofeedback

And here is a shot the treadmill with a subject watching the screen and adjusting his gait according to the feedback he is receiving on his knee angle:

Feedback screen